PSA: Nova Launcher is owned by an analytics company

Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca to Android@lemmy.world – 1086 points –
androidpolice.com

Since a few folks seem unaware of this, I'm posting anew for visibility.

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Lawnchair is a fork of the original pixel launcher that gives some quality of life upgrades to an already good piece of software, like being able to remove the search bar, resizable / reshapable icons and fonts usw. Its also open source, so feel free to check out the github.

There is no app store release right now but they are working on it. I've used the alpha versions for two years now and it has worked fine so far.

https://lawnchair.app/downloads/

I just made the switch after seeing this article.

Is there a way to get an icon to open the app drawer? Or am i forced to live with a gesture?

The choice gesture vs. nav button is usually part of android itself. In my case (pixel with therefor nearly stock android) its in settings -> system -> navigation mode (or something similar since its in german in my case). If you can't find it, search for "navigation button your phone model".

Edit: sorry, i just realized you meant the app drawer, not the overview of currently opened apps. I don't know the answer to that.

Edit edit: ok i found something in lawnchairs settings. The last setting is called gestures. If you have navigation buttons enabled instead of nav gestures (see above) you could bind the home button to open the app drawer.

The last setting is called gestures. If you have navigation buttons enabled instead of nav gestures (see above) you could bind the home button to open the app drawer.

That would mean unbinding it from another feature. It feels kind of ridiculous that I have to devote my home button to something that should just be tappable on screen if three button navigation is being used.

Yeah I tried it too and that's a major no go right there. The fact it's based off pixel launcher is killing my interest out of the gate, but I at least hoped that it would provide the same degree of customization options and tools as Nova. Doesn't look like it, and no ability to call the app drawer without swiping.

Frankly any app that pushes gestures as the default navigation method without respecting people that just want to use buttons and taps, I can't say I'm interested.

Guess I'm sticking with Nova 7 until it just stops working.

I've used the alpha versions for two years now and it has worked fine so far.

They released a beta about a month ago.

https://lemmy.world/post/13864258

Edit: which your download link has. Just wanted to make sure you and others don't use a 2 year old alpha instead.